Uparati

Uparati is the ability to achieve "dispassion"^[1] and is a personal quality considered important in Advaita Vedanta in the pursuit of moksha. Uparati is a Sanskrit word literally meaning "cessation, quietism, stopping worldly action"^[2] and "discontinuation of religious ceremonies".^[3] According to the Vedic scholar Adi Shankara, Uparati or Uparama is the strict observance of one's own Dharma.

Uparati is one of multiple essentials to prepare one eager for liberation to gain the knowledge of Brahman.^[4] Sama is the restraining of the outgoing mental propensities i.e. the curbing of the mind from all objects other than hearing etc., Dama is the restraining of the external sense-organs from all objects other than that. Also important are Titiksha (endurance of pairs of opposites), Samadhana (constant concentration of the mind), and Śraddhā (faith in the truths of Vedanta, which are the six-fold inner-wealth)^[5] Uparati is Pratyahara, the withdrawing of the Self (Vedantasara Slokas 18–20).

Effort is involved in inculcating Sama and Dama but the exercise of Uparati requires no efforts. In the state of Uparati, which is total renunciation of actions i.e. enjoined duties, one discovers an inner poise, silence or joy. The mind which is conditioned to fulfil duties is not free to pursue knowledge. It is through renunciation that a few seekers have attained immortality – not through rituals, progeny or wealth – "na karmana na prajya dhanena tyagenaike amrtatvamamasuh" – Kaivalya Upanishad, 3. Immortality is the state when becoming and being are one.^[6]

Whereas the fruit of Vairagya is Bodha i.e. spiritual wisdom, the fruit of Bodha is Uparati.^[7] The best Uparati (self-withdrawal) is that condition of the thought waves in which they are free from influences of external objects (Vivekachudamani Slokas 23).^[8] Uparati is the abstaining on principle from engaging in any acts and ceremonies enjoined by the Shastras; otherwise, it is the state of the mind which is always engaged in Sravana and the rest, without ever diverging from them.^[9]

References

1. Eliot Deutsch (1980), Advaita Vedanta : A Philosophical Reconstruction, University of Hawaii Press, ISBN 978-0824802714, pages 105-108
2. uparati Sanskrit English Dictionary, Koeln University, Germany
3. George Thibaut, The Sacred Books of the East: The Vedanta-Sutras, Part 1, p. 12, at Google Books, Oxford University Press, Editor: Max Muller, page 12 with footnote 1
4. "Vedantasara of Sadananda (translated by Swami Nikhilananda)".
5. Swami Tejomayananda (2008). Tattva-bodhah of Adi Shankara. Chinmaya Mission. p. 20. ISBN 9788175971851.
6. Swami Viditatmananda Saraswati. "Uparati, the abidance of the mind and the sense organs" (PDF).
7. The Theosophist - Adhyatma Upanishad of Shukla Yajurveda. 2008. p. 623. ISBN 9788175971851.
8. Swami Chinmayananda (2006). Vivekchoodamani. Chinmaya Mission. p. 37. ISBN 9788175971400.
9. G.R.S.Mead (February 2007). Five Years of Thesophy. Echo Library. p. 210. ISBN 9781406815283.